“From where you’re kneeling it must look like an 18 karat tun of bad luck. Truth is… the game was rigged from the start.”

Death.

Everypony hears stories about death at one point or another. Some say it is a cold dark void, others say it's warm and fuzzy and you are greeted at the end of the tunnel by Celestia herself. I never knew what to believe. The idea that I might one day die and cease to be anymore than a rotting pile of flesh, lost and forgotten in some hole had scared me out of my wits. I was always actively avoiding doing something stupid like think about what it would be like, I’d only scare myself more.

Of course then I found myself leaving the Stable and walking through the nightmare called Manehattan. Suddenly the idea that I might die became less of a foreboding future that I was slowly inching towards, but an inevitable event that wasn’t a matter of when, but how. That helped me become less afraid of death, I think.

Don’t get me wrong, I still didn’t want to die, but I had come to terms with the fact that at any second I could fail to dodge a bullet, or some sniper I didn’t see would decide my time had come. It didn’t matter, my life wasn’t all that important.

What did matter was saving Stable 25. I had pushed forwards, fighting against the worst the wasteland could throw at me just to save the ponies who had beat me and degraded me day after countless day. I suppose that was my virtue. Morality, doing the right thing, saving those even when they don’t deserve to be saved.

Not that that mattered anymore. I had come so far, fought and lost so much, only to die in some grey blasted apart mall. It wasn’t fare! Not to me, not to anypony that was counting on me to save their life. Most of all though, it wasn’t fair to Brisk. He hadn’t wanted to come here and save the Stable, he had just wanted to be free of the shackles of Stable 25. But I hadn’t let him do that. I had pulled him into my dumb quest, only for him to bleed out next to me on the floor, unable to see the sky or feel the open air.

There was a saying in Stable 25. Here you are born, and here you would die. Ironic, Brisk and I might not be in the Stable, but we were still going to die in a dark grey hallway, devoid of light and love and fresh air.

I wanted to return to the living world, I wanted to make all of the cyber ponies pay for what they had done, but most of all, I just wanted to save Brisk.

I could feel a hoof touch my forehead in the darkness. I tried to open my eyes to see who it was, but I was too weak. Once you have fallen into the darkness, you cannot simply climb out.

Somepony was saying something, though I couldn’t make out what it was. They spoke in a soothing tone, calming my nerves and making me drift more peacefully into oblivion.

I could taste something trickling past my parched lips, flavorless. I couldn’t stop it, I just lay there in the dark. Then, I faded into nothingness completely.

I jerked my eyes open and sat up with a start. Where was I? Why wasn’t I dead? What was going on!?

Xayah put a black and white striped hoof on my chest and pushed me back down. I let her, gently resting my back back against the cold grey walls of the mall.

“What happened?” I asked, looking up at Xayah. She looked shaken, her striped mane was a mess and her normally stunning green eyes were puffy and red. She had clearly been crying. Fear shot through me. “Xayah! Where is Brisk!”

“I’m fine,” Brisk wheezed, propping himself up from the ground a few feet away from me. “Its okay Amber, were all fine,” I could have cried right then I was so happy. Brisks eye was still a pulpy mess, but the rest of him looked back to normal. He did look a little shaken though, no doubt having trouble adjusting to his lack of vision on one side.

I spotted a few empty healing potions and hydra laying in a pile next to me. I gave Xayah a shaky smile. “I see you found healing potions.”

Xayah shook her head. “I didn’t find anything. I thought you were dead for sure.”

“Wha- what do you mean?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “What happened?”

“I looked as hard as I could, but the mall has been completely looted,” Xayah said. She was beginning to tear up, wet tears were starting to roll down her cheeks and dampen her coat. “I thought you two were dead and then… then…”

I slowly pushed myself back up again. “Xayah, what happened?”

Xayah whimpered. “I returned, thinking I had failed you and… and…” she had to wipe a hoof across her face to clear some of the tears away. “I saw a stallion standing over you. But… I don’t think he was a pony.”

I felt a chill go up my spine. “Why do you think he wasn’t a pony?” I soothed, trying to hide the discomfort in my own voice.

Xayah shook her head cluelessly. “I don’t know, he just seemed wrong. Like he wasn’t supposed to be there,” She started shaking a little as she spoke. I reached forwards and held her tight in my hooves. How odd that it was the pony that almost died that needed to comfort somepony, but I had never seen Xayah this shaken, even after watching her whole family get slaughtered by raiders. Xayah bit back more tears. “He was stroking your mane and whispering something to you. When he saw me he just disappeared.”

“Well everything it's all okay now, right?” I asked, glancing over at Brisk. He gave a slow nod, but seemed unsettled by the news as well. I glanced at the empty bottles around us that had once held healing potions. “So did he give us the healing potions then?” I asked. besides being a little mysterious, he didn’t seem all that bad.

Xayah shuttered. “I don’t know… I... I don't know what I saw.”

After a few minutes I let go of Xayah and crawled over to Brisk who was rubbing the goopy socket where his eye used to be. “You doing alright?” I asked as I pulled up next to him.

His lower lip trembled slightly, but he kept his composure. “I’ve been better. Cant see good though,” He poked at his eye socket a few more times with his hoof. I caught his hoof and lowered it away from his eye.

“I’d try not to touch it,” I soothed. “It’ll just make it worse.”

Brisk grunted. “It’s hard to get worse than gone,” He grumped, running his hooves over the regrown fur on his chest. It was patchy where the cyber pony had ripped him open.

I gave him a warm smile and gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder. “Maybe we could get you an eyepatch or something, make you look like a pirate.”

He answered my statement with a genuine smile. “Awe, really! Ya really know how to put a grin on my face.”

I found myself chuckling despite myself. “I just gotta say dumb shit,” He gave me a playful punch on the shoulder in return.

With everypony feeling better, I stood and turned to what we had come here for in the first place. The broken remains of the cyber pony.

His metal head and popped off and rolled away from the body a few feet, landing in a pile of trash in the corner of the hallway. A small light blinked on and off behind his glass like eyes, illuminating bits of the hallway for short periods of time.

I approached it, Boneless drawn and aimed at the sinister head. I doubted it was still a threat, but after our fight, I wasn’t going to underestimate these cyber ponies again. Even broken they were death machines.

A small buzzing escaped the jagged sneer of the cyber head and a crackling voice spoke out. “Please, d-d-d-don’t do this!” I froze as I got closer. It was still alive. And worse, it had the audacity to ask me to spare it? “I won’t do it a-a-again, I sw-w-wear!” the voice sounded scared, nothing like the vile monster that had attacked me before.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you!” I asked, drawing a few steps closer, boneless trained on the head.

“I-I-I d-d-d-don’t want to become like t-that thing!” it screamed, the pained voice blaring from the motionless head. “Don’t turn me into a monster!”

I stopped a few feet away from it. I doubted it was talking to me at this point. “What monster are you becoming?” I asked it, lowering my shotgun a little.

“Metal, all metal!” The head yelled. “It hurts me! I don’t want to hurt anymore…”

“What is it talking about?” Xayah asked, stepping up to me and looking the skull over.

“I think it's remembering when it became… well this,” I replied, gesturing to the broken metal husk of the cyber pony on the ground.

“NO!” The cyber ponies voice began screaming. Its voice was pained and shrill. “NO! It hurts! Don’t let it hurt me!” there was a sudden silence from the screaming metal head. When if finally spoke again its voice was low and pained. “Why is it so dark…” He muttered, almost as if on the verge of tears. Then, with one last burst of sparks, the flickering light inside the head went out.

I Kneeled down next to the metal skull and began opening up the back of the skull with my screwdriver. There was a satisfying click and the back half of the skull opened up.

“So what are you doing again?” Brisk asked, peering over my shoulder and looking at the circuitry inside of the cyber ponies head. I doubted any of the things inside meant anything to him, but to me it felt like I was staring at an old friend.

"It's likely that these cyber ponies brains have been augmented, which means that there is a good chance that their memories are stored as some form of data inside their head,” I replied evenly, getting to work and fiddling around with the different circuits in the skull. Its eyes were also mechanical, so I can probably pull up complete videos of the cyber ponies memories from the last few hours.”

“And you know how to do this how?” Brisk asked, shaking his head and looking away from the metal head.

“Because I have spent my life dealing with and fixing Stable-Tec machines,” I said. I grinned and flipped a small switch in the center of the cyber ponies head. The eyes on the cyber pony flared to life again and projected a light blue tinted video onto the cracked wall. “And this... is Stable-Tec technology,” I stated proudly, watching the video.

On the projection, we watched from the cyber ponies perspective as all four cyber ponies stood in a circle in the middle of the hallway.

“Come on!” The cyber pony wielding two large flamers groaned. “We can take em’! Let's burn their asses to a crisp!”

The cyber alicorn stomped his hoof, shaking the walls of the mall. “We can’t attack them in the open. It will be easier to fight them if we lure them here first,” all the cyber ponies shut up after that.

A few seconds passed, then the cyber alicon put a metal hoof to his ear as if he heard something. None of the other cyber ponies dared say anything as he listened. When he finally put his hoof down and grunted. “There has been a change of plans. We aren’t bringing the A.A.S.S to the Ponypalooza Hotel anymore.”

Once again the flamer cyber pony spoke up. “Fuckin’ hell! Where does he want us to drop it off now? And don’t tell me Filly-fuckin’-delpia!”

“We aren’t giving it to him anymore,” The cyber alicorn barked. “We are heading to the Fetlock train station. I just got word from Kamari. He gave me a deal for it I can’t refuse.”

The cyber pony we were watching through the eyes of snarled. “You would dare turn on our maker! He gave us a direct order to retrieve this fucking device and I intend to deliver it, even if I have to take it from your mangled corpse!”

The cyber alicorn growled and narrowed its mechanical eyes at us. “You would be best to watch your tongue Steel Blade,” The cyber alicorn threatened. “I have no desire to be that basterds puppet forever.”

Steel Blade snarled and readied himself into an attacking position. I applauded him on his bravery against the cyber alicorn. The cyber alicorn remained stoic, almost unfazed by the metal pony before him preparing to lunge.

“How much did Kamari offer?” The flamer cyber pony blurted, interrupting the standoff between the two hulking metal monsters.

“Five Hundred thousand caps each,” The cyber alicorn deadpanned. All of the cyber ponies froze. “Our original paycheque was only twenty thousand.”

After a long silence the cyber pony who had yet to speak spoke. “Holy fuck,” I noted that he had been the psycho that had continuously stomped an alicorns head in.

The flamer wielding cyber pony laughed an awful laugh. “I say fuck him! I’ll take five hundred over twenty any day!”

Steel blade growled again. “How dare you! All of you! He made us! He is a god! He will bring about Utopia!”

The cyber pony with the flamer sneered. “Oh go preach your religious bullshit to somepony that gives a fuck!”

The tension in the room grew. Steel Blade was practically fuming at this point as he glared down the other three cyber ponies. The flamer cyber pony chuckled at him, tempting him to attack by shooting small puffs of flame out of his flamers.

Before Steel blade could lunge, a massive form burst from the ground and lashed at him across the side. Three massive gouges were ripped into Steel Blades side as hordes of Hellhounds tore their way out of the ground with deadly ferocity.

Now I understood why hellhounds were so feared in the wasteland. The cyber ponies had been slaughtering alicorns with ease, but against the hellhounds they had to fight for their life. Where bullets had merely bounced off of the cyber ponies metal armour, the hellhounds claws tore large chunks of metal from their flesh. Steel blade took the worst of it, his back half been torn away from his body as three hellhounds grabbed onto him and pulled him apart.

The cyber alicorn was not as easily taken down. His tesla cannons blasted massive burst of blue energy into the hellhounds, each strike ending in the targeted hellhound being blown to pieces. One hellhound managed to claw the cyber alicorn across the face, leaving a deep claw mark across his front.

The cyber pony with the flamers seemed to be holding his own as well, sending jets of flame into the oncoming hellhounds. A few hellhounds tried to burrow back into the ground to escape his fire, only for him to blast a steady stream of flame down the hole after them.

As the final hellhound was blasted away, the standing cyber ponies gave a howl of laughter. The cyber pony with the flamer leaned in close to Steel blade and grinned. “Oh, looks like you need a little help there!” the cyber pony cackled to himself as he stared down at Steel Blades broken form.

Steel blade answered him by blasting him in the face with two shots of his laser weapons. The flamer cyber pony staggered back, clutching his charred face.

The flamer cyber pony laughed again despite the pain he must have felt, his flamers slowly building up. “Ho ho! You just messed with the wrong pony!” The flamer cyber pony laughed, flipping Steel Blades broken body over and pinning him down with one hoof. The flamer cyber pony leaned in close and spat in Steel Blades face, blemishing the video with oddly black spit. “I’d rape you, but you’re a little old for my taste,” The flamer cyber pony glanced at Steel Blades lower half a few feet away. “And you’re kinda missing all the good parts.”

The cyber alicorn approached from behind them and stomped his hoof on the ground. “Stop taunting him Inferno, just make him burn,” The cyber alicorn growled.

The flamer cyber pony now known as Inferno chuckled. “With pleasure Crank!” Then the video was filled with flames. The screen flickered a few times, then went out.

So that cyber pony with a flamer was named Inferno, and the cyber alicorn was named Crank. I glanced at the broken head of the cyber pony. “Guess that makes you Steel Blade, huh?”

“Sooo, what do we do know?” Brisk asked. “I mean, we still don’t know why all of this is happening.”

“We head to the Fetlock train station,” Xayah said. “I have heard the train only comes every few days, so it is unlikely that the cyber ponies are on it yet.”

“How far of a walk is it to the station?” I asked, tossing the metal head back into the pile of trash and beginning my way back out of the building.

“About an hour,” Xayah informed us. Brisk and I froze. We were going to be facing down three cyber ponies in around an hour. I didn’t know if I should be happy or horrified. I decided to settle for both.

The sun had just risen above the horizon line as we stepped out of the abandoned mall. The camp of ponies we had encountered before were only a few feet away, all of them gathered around a campfire roasting some form of meat on a stick.

As we approached, Dusty walked up to us with a big grin. “Ya made it out! Y’all were in there so long, I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.”

I grimaced. “We came pretty damn close to not coming out,” I admitted.

Dusty sent a nervous glance at Brisk melted eye. “I noticed. I can get ya a pair of sunglasses if you wish?” Brisk pocked at the goopy socked and nodded solemnly.

“Say, we just cooked up some bloatfly if you want some,” Dusty said, leading us back over to the camp.

Bloatfly. I didn’t know if that was better or worse than eating Radroach. These ponies needed to try Xayah's cookies, that would put any radioactive wasteland meat to shame.

As we drew closer to the camp, I began to make out the ponies gathered around the fire better. Among three mares sat and old buck with a pipe in his mouth and a handful of foals that had taken to running in circles around the fire. It was good to see that some ponies could manage to find some form of happiness in the wasteland, even if it that happiness was hard to maintain.

A dark black buck with a grey stetson walked out of one of the tens and joined the ponies by the fire. Dusty brightened up at the sight of the pony.

“Ah, there he is,” Dusty exclaimed, ushering us over and passing us each a chunk of bloatfly meat. “There is a stallion here I’d like y’all to meet. Y’all seem to have a bit in common.”

I took the meat from him and followed him over to where the black buck had sat down. As we neared, I took a quick bite of the meat. It wasn’t awful, though it would be a stretch to call it good.

“Friends, I’d like y’all to meet Flask,” Dusty said, gesturing to the buck. “Flask here is a regular in our little comunity, brings supplies to us from all over the wasteland. See, he travels the wasteland like y’all, looking for robo ponies!”

Flask waved a hoof at Dusty. “Dusty, what have I told ya about tellin’ every pony that? It is supposed to be a secret.”

“You're Flask?” Brisk asked sceptically, taking a small step forwards. He cast a glance at me. “Are you the pony we are supposed to meet?”

Flask stood up and took the three of us in. “Depends, who sent you?”

Brisk quickly pulled out the metal box we had received in Friendship City and passed it to him. “Friend of yours named Emissary gave us this for you in Friendship City. Is that you?” I mentally kicked myself. In my hurry to catch the cyber ponies, I had completely forgotten about that deal we had made with Emissary in exchange for a place to sleep.

“Emissary sent you?” Flask asked. We all nodded in unison. Flask’s eyes darted around to look at the other ponies around the fire. After taking a second to assess the situation, he turned to Dusty. “Do you mind if I take a moment to talk to these folks?”

Dusty nodded casually, as if this kind of thing was a common occurrence with Flask. “No problem, take all the time ya need.”

A few minutes later and we had all piled into one of the tens around the campfire. Flask took the metal box from Brisk and looked it over.

“I’m surprised Emissary sent y’all. He's not usually one to trust others with important tasks like that, so either you are new, or he was desperate to get this out of Friendship City,” Flask said pointedly. “So? What is it? How much to you three ponies know?”

I raised my hooves in defence. “We don’t know anything. He just seemed to be offering us a job,” I answered honestly.

Flask gave a disbelieving grunt. “Well, thank you for your service,” He hastily tossed a bag of twenty caps in front of us.

“What is this for?” I asked as I picked up the caps.

Flask gave me a dumb look. “For bringin’ me my package,” He answered flatly.

I was about to argue that we didn’t do it for caps when Brisk cut me off. “Thank you, we’ll make sure we use these caps well! So, what is in the box?” Brisk asked curiously, leaning in slightly. “I tried to open it a few times, but I couldn’t seem to figure out how.”

I gave him a disappointed look. “Why the fuck were you trying to look inside of somepony else's mail?”

Brisk gave me a blank stare. “Hi, my name is Brisk Spark, it’s nice to meet you,” He made a good point.

Flask gave Brisk a disapproving look before returning his gaze to Xayah and I. “If Emissary trust you and made you come all the way out here, I suppose I should give you some explanation,” Flask sighed, and put the metal box down by his hooves before sitting down on a wooden chair in the center of the tent. “Tell me ponies, have you ever heard of the Institute?”

Instinctively, Brisk and Xayah shook their heads. I thought for a second. The name did sound familiar. Oh wait, that's right! Tales had mentioned the Institute back in Friendship City. But that had just been a crazy conspiracy theory, right?

Then again, so was the Enclave and I had seen first hoof how real they were.

“I've heard a little, but not very much” I admitted. “Something about kidnapping ponies?”

Flask nodded. “That and more. You see the Institute has created something called the Synth.”

“Ah, this I have heard of,” Xayah said. “Robots so realistic, you cannot tell them apart from ponies. But I thought those were just a foolish myth?”

Flask shook his head. “They’re no myth, and they are more than just robots. The Institute believes these synths to be no more than mindless machines. Slaves to their every whim, but they are so much more.”

“If they’re robots created to be slaves, is that not what they are?” I asked, trying to picture a synth in my mind. I was having a difficult time.

Once again, Flask shook his head. “Perhaps they are not born from the womb like you or me, but just like ponies they are capable of sentient thought. They are able to learn. If they look like ponies and think and feel like ponies, they are ponies,” Flask informed us sternly.

“I was not sure if these synths existed,” Xayah restated. “How do you know they are real?”

Flask smiled at that. “Because there are ponies out there like Emissary and myself that have dedicated our lives to protecting and liberating these synths, freeing them from the shackles of the Institute if you will.”

“Ponies?” Brisk asked. “How many of you are there?”

“We are few and far between,” Flask informed us. “We are a group called the Friendship Express. We help synth in need of protection from the Institute and others who would do them harm.”

“Where is this Institute?” I asked. It seemed odd that such a faction would be spoken of so little that most ponies didn’t even know they existed.

“No pony knows,” Flask muttered. “We have been trying to find them for years, but they are notoriously good at staying on the down low.”

Brisk rocked back and forth on his hooves a couple times. “This is interesting and all, but can we open up the box and see what's inside now?” he blurted impatiently. “I mean, I was forced to carry around a mysterious box for a full day and I still don’t know what's inside!”

Flask and I rolled our eyes. Brisk could be so childish sometimes. Flask leaned forward and picked the box up in his hooves. He pulled out a strange talisman in the shape of a lantern and placed it to the metal box. There was a small click and the top of the box opened inwards.

“It is a magical box that the Friendship Express has developed over the years,” Flask explained as he pulled a stained yellow folder out of the box. “They are designed to only be opened by members of the Friendship Express.”

Brisk crossed his hooves and grumbled. “Stupid Brisk proof boxes.”

“What is in the file?” Xayah asked curiously, leaning in to look at the folder. Flask yanked the folder away before she could get a good look at it.

“Sorry, there is a reason that this was in one of those boxes. If this information gets out then one of our clients lives could be a risk,” Flask snapped, closing the folder and putting it back into the box for later. He quickly pulled out a steel flask and took a swig from it. “My apologies.”

Brisk threw his hooves into the air in despair. “Seriously! Now I can’t even see what it is! Ugh! I hate not getting to see things!”

Flask gave us a smug smile. “We all have our secrets,” he glanced down at the box and pondered something for a second. “I’ll tell you what though. Since y’all have been wandering the wasteland, I figure you might be able to help me some. I’ve been looking for a runaway synth that is going by the name of Rubber Band. If you happen to run across him, would ya mind getting word of his location to us? We’ve been looking awfully hard for this one.”

I grimaced. Another side quest? Were we their personal grunts now?

Flask seemed to notice my expression. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure we pay you a good pile of caps for it if you do.”

Brisk nodded vigorously. “You had me at caps!”

As we piled out of the tent, we found Dusty’s son Scrapper waiting for us outside. He passed Brisk a pair of black tinted sunglasses. “Here, dad said you’d want these,” Scapper said as Brisk took the shades and placed them over his eyes gingerly.

“Well, they’re no eyepatch, but I’ll take it,” Brisk joked, tapping the glasses with a hoof.

Xayah looked at her reflection in the lenses. “Yes, they seem to suit you most nicely.”

Brisk flicked his hoof and gave a fake chuckle. “Oh Xayah, you say the sweetest things!” He said in the most flamboyant voice he could. It was good to see that even the wasteland couldn’t change the childish goofball that was Brisk.

“How long will you ponies be staying?” Scapper asked, turning his attention to me. “We always like having newcomers!”

I glanced up at the sky. Midday already. “We should probably get going,” I answered. “Sorry, but we have something very important to do today.”

“Is there anything you would like from us before you depart?” Dusty asked, walking up to our group.

I shook my head. “No, I think we should be-” Brisk bonked me atop my head with the grip of his gun. “Ouch! What was that for!”

Brisk waved his empty gun in my face. “We could use some ammo if you can spare any,” Brisk suggested, returning his gun to his side.

Dusty nodded. “I’m sure we can find y’all somethin’ ta shoot with. it ‘s the least we can do after puttin’ a gun to yer head earlier.”

Apparently ‘more to shoot with’ ment every bullet and shell in their possession that could fit our guns. I appreciated Dusty’s generosity, especially after our less than pleasant first meeting, but I worried that such kindness would get the poor buck and his family killed. As we walked away from the camp and into the desolite suburbs of Fetlock I began counting our ammo. Fifteen shotgun shells left for Boneless, twenty two new shots had been added to Brisk’s pistol and Xayah’s sniper ammo had increased to twenty one. Then of course there was our three shots for our Balefire Egg Launcher.

We walked in silence for a roughly half an hour, the towering skyscrapers slowly sinking away into the distance as they were replaced by smaller buildings. I flipped though my pipbuck until I found DJ Pon3's radio station.

"...For any of you wastelanders daring the trecherous stretch between Manhattan and Fillydelpia, be on high alert. I have heard of a group of bandits that have been patrolling most of the area. When those fuckers see something they want, they go an' take it... an' they always forget to say please," DJ Pon3's charismatic voice said over the radio of my pipbuck as we walked. "There is good new too though. See these bandits seem t' be giving Red Eye a bit of a rough time as well. According to my sources, they have robbed quite a few of his slavers on their way back to Filly. Bold move bandits, bold move.

"But it doesn't end there. oh no. Do you all remember those Canterlot ghouls I mentioned the other day? Well it seems they are comin' over from Filly as well. Not sure why yet, but whatever it is can't be good. There's a lot of activity in those parts these days, so perhaps it is best to steer clear. Until then my little ponies, keep on fighting that fight! The good fight!"

DJ Pon3's voice died out and some form of instrumental began playing from the radio. I listened to it for a bit, taking in the different sounds. Maybe I should try and bring some new music back to the Stable with me when I return, I thought to myself as I glanced up at the thick cloud layer above me. I was becoming more adjusted to the looming sky above.

I looked over at Brisk who was busy digging through a toppled over garbage can a few feet in front of us. Occasionally he would find something of interest, look it over for a few seconds, then toss it behind him and move on to the next piece of junk.

"What do you think he's doing?" Xayah asked from beside me, looking at Brisk with her eyebrow raised.

I gave her a quick shrug. "Who the hell knows why Brisk does half the stuff he does," Xayah chuckled at that “So... There is a functional train station still working in Equestria?” I asked Xayah as we passed a cluster of broken down houses. The structures in Fetlock seemed tiny in comparison to the towering skyscrapers of Manehattan “Even after two hundred years?”

“Mm-hmm. I heard some ghouls managed to repurpose the Manehattan station a few years back. They will take you anywhere that those tracks are connected to,” Xayah said. She thought about that for a second. “Well… the trains might not necessarily be functional per say, that is probably the wrong word. They don’t exactly have the coal to run it. I think they were like that even before the bombs fell.”

“I thought you said the train comes once every few days?”

“Mm-hmm, it does,” Xayah confirmed.

I slapped a hoof across my face. “How is it supposed to do that if it doesn’t have any coal? Does it run with magic or something?”

Xayah shook her head simply. “Nope, they use pony power.”

“Pony power?” I questioned. “Like… ponies pull the train?” Xayah gave a small smile and nod. Well that just seemed stupid.

While I questioned whether or not a pony pulled train was actually productive or not, Brisk pointed off into the distance and gave a small word of warning. “We're here.”

The Fetlock train station wasn’t anything overly special. It was a long single story building with a thatched roof attached to a tall clocktower on its right. A long black train sat silently at the station, half of the train cars comprised of pieces of junk. A couple of ghouls wandered around the area, minding their own business. Their bar on my pipbuck was green, so I assumed they were friendly ghouls like Coco.

“Keep your eyes open for the cyber ponies,” I instructed as I began walking closer to the station. “The train hasn’t left yet so they are probably still in the area.”

Brisk poked me on the butt to catch my attention before pointing his hoof back at the station. “I’m way ahead of you Amber.”

In the direction of his hoof I could see all three cyber ponies. At the moment they were just standing around and waiting at the train station. Had they not been made of metal and sporting massive weapons of destruction at their sides, they might have just looked like any other pony. It was almost funny; three massive war machines waiting patiently for the next train. Almost funny.

The cyber alicorn I now knew as Crank paced back and forth in front of the other two cyber ponies. Even with his bladed metal wings folded up against his sides I could see the razor sharp blades gleaming in the sunlight and the huge tesla canons that rest just below them.

I gulped. Well shit, I guess it was time to face annihilation.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to Xayah and Brisk. “Alright, are you two ready?”

“That depends,” Xayah soothed in her exotic voice. “Do we have a plan?”

A plan? Against those things? The idea of taking out one was a joke. Any plan I could probably come up with would have a very low chance of success.

“We almost died trying to kill the last cyber pony,” Brisk added. “And that one was severely damaged and missing half his body. I doubt we can just run up and attack three fully functional ones.”

“I don’t think we can take all of them out regardless,” I grunted, glancing back at where the cyber ponies were waiting patiently. “We could try to lure them away from each other and take them out one by one, but that’s still a stretch,” I pulled out the Balefire Egg Launcher I had slung across my back. “We could always shoot them with this? Three shots, three cyber ponies.”

Brisk taped his fore hooves together in excitement. “Please oh please let me fire it!”

Xayah shook her head. “Only if you want to destroy the A.A.S.S as well. Whatever that hits goes up in flame, living or no.”

“Then how are we supposed to fight these things?” I asked out loud. “It’s not like we can just ask them to give the A.A.S.S to us.”

“We could try to steal it from them,” Xayah pointed out. For some bizarre reason, the idea of just stealing it had never crossed my mind. “You and Brisk could try and separate them while I steal the A.A.S.S with my stealth cloak.”

Not the worst idea. Though there were two burning questions I had. “How do we know which one has the A.A.S.S and how do we distract and or seperate them without being blown to pieces?” I asked, stating my concerns outloud.

We all returned our gaze to the cyber ponies in the distance. From here they appeared as little balls of metal against the horizon if you didn’t squint your eyes. And yet even from this far away, I could feel the danger. It was as if at any second they would turn and spot us.

Brisk let out a small chuckle. “You want us to distract them?” He said, almost arogently. He turned to us and gave off the most dramatic pose that he could. “Well then say no more, as there ain’t no pony better at being a nuisance than I!”

Xayah and I exchanged a look. This was going to be something…

Brisk leaned in closer. “Alrighty, here's the plan!”

The Fetlock train station was silent. All the ghouls that walked about preparing the train for departure kept their heads low and avoided all eye contact. The metal monstrosities that the ghouls were cowering from stood at attention on the platform above them, their glowing red gaze scanning over the small groups of ghouls below. The only sound was that of the cyber alicorn’s heavy hoof steps as he paced back and forth across the platform.

Brisk, Xayah and I had crept up the side of the station wall and were peeking over the edge of the roof down at the cyber ponies below us. They were only a few feet away from us now. Close enough that we could make out the deep grumble of their voices as they spoke to each other.

I prayed to Celestia they didn’t notice us on their EFS.

“At least he was nice enough to pay for our train,” Inferno grumbled, keeping his gaze fixed on the ghouls. “But are you sure I can’t just torch one fucking ghoul cunt? I’m itchin’ to burn something!” A few ghouls stared at him in horror as he spoke.

The cyber pony beside him groaned. “Oh shut it with all your grumbling! You complain more than fucking Steel Blade!”

Inferno growled at him, baring his metal fangs at the cyber pony. “Fuck you Tripwire! Don’t compare me to that preachy hunk of shit!”

The Crank stopped pacing and rubbed his ear with a hoof. “There is a lot about being made of metal I can’t stand, but the worst needs to be the enhanced hearing. Your constant bickering feels worse than getting my heart ripped out,” Crank growled. The two cyber ponies stopped arguing at once. Apparently they all knew what having their heart ripped out felt like. I didn’t want to know how.

“You really think Kamari is gonna pay Five Hundred thousand for this thing?” Tripwire asked in a low grumble, pulling the A.A.S.S out and looking it over. I didn’t know exactly where he had managed to pull it out from. “I mean who the fuck would even want some piece of junk like this?”

I exchanged glances with Xayah and Brisk. Now we knew which cyber pony had it. All that was left to do was lure the others away and steal it back. No pressure.

Inferno shrugged. “Hell if I know, but it seems everypony wants this thing. When there are that many caps on the line, how can ya say no?”

Brisk began slinking off of the roof next to me and down to the edge of the platform. He made sure that he stayed far enough away from the cyber ponies that they wouldn’t notice him until he was ready.

“What are you even going to do with all those caps?” Tripwire asked, rolling his head side to side. A sharp cracking sound accompanied each head roll.

Inferno gave a wirily smile. “I hear Red Eye has a few fillies in his mines. Might give them a couple tries. It’s been a while since I forced a filly to pleasure me.”

Holy fuck that cyber pony was twisted. His remark almost tempted me to pull out the Balefire Egg Launcher and blow them all to hell right now. Screw the A.A.S.S. these bastards needed to die.

Brisk nodded to me as he approached the edge of the platform and entered the cyber ponies field of view. This was it, no turning back now.

I could see Xayah’s muscles tensing as we watched Brisk draw closer to them. My stomach did a flip inside of me. Please don’t die Brisk.

Brisk cleared his throat, drawing all of the cyber ponies attention. “Hey, y’all want to hear a joke?” the cyber ponies looked at each other, not sure how to react. “Alright, here it goes!” Brisk cleared his throat again. “There are three types of ponies in the world. Those that can count, and those that can't!” Yup he was dead.

There was a stunned silence from the cyber ponies. After the initial shock had passed, Inferno turned to Crank. “Oh please let me burn this fucker!”

Crank didn’t even ponder Inferno’s request. “Roast him,” Crank ordered, pointing a metal hoof towards Brisk. Inferno grinned and charged forwards, his flamer blasting a massive jet of flame.

“Well shit!” Brisk exclaimed, turning tail and rushing away from the cyber ponies as fast as he could. The ghouls preparing the train scattered and started running in any direction they could to escape the charging cyber pony. Brisk used that to his advantage, hiding himself in the chaos.

That just left the cyber alicorn to distract. I took a deep breath and began to climb down the side of the roof as well.

Before I got to the edge of the roof, Brisk yelled out. “Here’s another one! What's ugly, metal and as far from a pony as can be!” Crank froze and glared at Brisk as he danced around the fire spewing from Inferno’s flamers with surprising agility. “You assholes!”

With a loud roar, Crank took to the air and began diving towards Brisk. Something about that joke had pissed him off, and pissed him off bad. Brisk gave a small squeak of fear as he saw the monstrous metal alicorn flashing towards him. He began running towards the more dense parts of the Fetlock suburbs.

Xayah and I gave each other a nervous glance. Hopefully Brisk could manage to run long enough with them both on his tail.

“That takes care of that,” I muttered to Xayah. “I’ll give you cover while you go down there.”

Xayah silently bowed and flickered out of view. I pulled out Boneless and kept it aimed at Tripwire below me. The cyber pony was standing on high alert. No doubt he suspected some form of trickery ahoof.

I watched the small shimmer of air as Xayah crept closer and closer to the cyber pony. I tensed as she approached him, her hoof slowly slipping into view as she reached for the black oblong device at the cyber ponies side.

“Crank is wrong,” Tripwire grunted, glaring out at the rushing ghouls as his two cyber pony companions chased after Brisk. “Enhanced hearing is a useful feature!”

His back hoof kicked backwards with lighting speed, kicking Xayah across the chest. She flickered back into view as she flew backwards, crashing into the wall of the train station. Tripwire spun around and lunged at her, his front hooves smashing into her and sending her crashing the rest fo the way through the wall and into the large clocktower.

I fired Boneless and let the explosive shells burst against his metal armour. Unfazed, the cyber pony glanced up at me, his two large weapons on his side quickly swiveling to face me. Now faced with the barrel of his weapons, I began to make out what they were. On the left was some form of laser weapon similar to what Steel Blade had carried. On his right however was a large tube like barrel with a bulky ammo magazine on the end.

Tripwires guns fired, a large grenade firing from his gun and hurtling towards me. It was a grenade launcher! He had a goddess damned grenade launcher attached to his side! Are you kidding?!

I jumped from the roof as the spot I had been standing exploded in a burst of fire and shrapnel. I landed on the platform on my hooves, a heavy shock going through my body as I hit the wooden floor. My whole body ached, but I couldn’t tell if that was from the explosion or the impact of jumping to the floor.

Tripwire was on me in seconds, his metal hooves bashing me across my face and sending me toppling to the ground. He sneered down at me as he placed his hoof on my chest to keep me down.

“Hey, you’re that bitch from the Stable!” He chuckled, his laser weapon turning to face me. “I hope you know that once we’re done here, I’m going to personally kill as many of those Stable fuckers as I can.”

I steadied Boneless in my mouth and aimed up at him. “Amd I mersonallme gomma kill as mamy cymer momies as I man!” I yelled back at him around the handle of my gun. From the look he gave me, I doubted he had any idea what I said.

I fired Boneless, making the cyber pony stagger backwards. I pushed myself to my hooves and fired at him again, blowing off more of the remaining hide on his face.

Tripwire growled, rubbing a hoof across his face as his coat slowly began to regrow. The dented metal began popping back into place and even his teeth quickly regenerated themselves.

“You’re going to pay for that bitch!” He screamed as he rushed towards me. His grenade launcher fired again, detonating at my hooves and sending me sprawling backwards. My pipbuck started flashing warnings that all of my hooves were damaged. I hope that wasn’t permanent.

Tripwire prepared to fire again when Xayah climbed out of the clocktower and shot him through the chest with her sniper. Black fluid and blood spewed from the wound as the bullet lodged itself in him. He stumbled, crashing into the wall of the train station. I watched in amazement as his chest shot the bullet back out and patched itself back together.

He spun around and blasted at Xayah with his laser rifle. The shot lanced through her forehoof, burning away her hide and revealing the white bone underneath. Xayah screamed out as she dropped to the ground, a stream of blood spilling from her foreleg.

The cyber pony rushed at her, his laser gun charging up for another shot. I lept forwards, wrapping my hooves around his neck and clinging tight to him as he burst through the wall of the clocktower.

Xayah rolled out of the way as Tripwires hooves crashed down at her head.

Tripwire bucked, sending me flying into the air and smashing my head against the staircase leading to the top of the tower.

The inside of the tower was mostly hollow. A small spiral staircase twisted around the inner edge of the tower all the way to the top. A few small landings provided resting spots on the way up the tower.

I tried to shake the pulsing, spinning feeling from my head as I pulled myself off the ground. I pulled out my baton and stared down Tripwire, only to see his grenade launcher staring back.

Shit!

I ducked and rolled as I was assaulted by a volley of grenades. The walls of the tower shook as holes were ripped into the walls and floor of the structure.

Xayah lashed at Tripwire with her knife, the blade sinking deep into his neck. He kicked at her with his hooves, making her stumble away. He pulled the knife from his neck and tossed at the floor, the incision in his neck quickly closing up with a new layer of fur.

Fighting him was going to get us nowhere. He was too fast and strong for us, not to mention his weapons were way overpowered and he could regenerate any wound we gave him.

I concentrated on his grenade launcher. Alright, if there was any time for my horn burnout to go away this was it! My head screamed as I attempted to do even the most basic magical feat.

Tripwire glanced at my horn as it began to glow with a faint amber light. He turned his grenade launcher to face me again. “Fuck you and your unicorn tricks!” he yelled, firing off three grenades.

As the grenades left his gun, I grabbed onto them with my telekinesis and held them in place. My head screamed in pain at the effort, but I was able to successfully hold the grenades aloft. Tripwire stared at the three grenades that were floating in the air in front of him with shock. “Well fuck me!” he blurted, taking the smallest of steps backwards.

The grenades exploded in his face, tearing away the his metal plating and most of his coat. Both of his eyes were peppered with sharp chunks of shrapnel, temporarily blinding him. He stumbled back and crashed into the wall, his grenade launcher now blasted apart, the end of the barrel was a jagged mess of crumpled metal.

But he wasn’t done yet. He pulled himself back up, the hydra pumping through his body regenerating his injuries faster than I could have expected. Even his grenade launcher began to reform a little, but it looked like I had a few minutes before that reformed completely.

“Oh come on! Really! How do you survive that!” I complained, thrusting my hoof out at him with a huff. “I literally just blew three grenades up in you face!”

Tripwire sneered and pounced at me, not bothering to answer my question. His hooves pounded into my face, knocking me prone on my back and sending a few of my teeth flying from my mouth. He raised his front hooves up, preparing to slam them down on my head and crush my skull.

Xayah shot a round from her sniper straight through both of his back hooves. Tripwire fell backwards, crashing into the ground as his hooves hastily pulled themselves back together. He glanced up at Xayah who had taken to the stairs and was shooting down at him from above. Another shot from her sniper hit him between the eyes, but the bullet bounced harmlessly off of his metal plating.

I rocked to my hooves and slammed my shock baton against his head. An electric shock shot through him, making the many lights on his body flicker. That seemed to be effective, and Tripwire knew it too.

He blasted at my baton as he pulled himself upwards. The laser struck my mouth and singed the fur on my face, making me drop my baton. I went to reach for it, but the cyber ponies bladed tail swung at me, nearly slicing my hoof from my body.

Until this point I hadn’t even noticed their tails doubled as swords. Steel Blade had been missing his back half and all the other times I had been too preoccupied with their massive weapons to notice it. I saw it now though as he lashed at me with his tail over and over again as if it were a whip. I lurched back, just narrowly avoiding being cut in two. I wasn’t able to avoid the next couple cuts though as he pushed forward.

The blade cut deep into my hide in multiple spots as Tripwire viciously lashed at me. I could feel my Stable barding tear in multiple places as the blade ripped into me. Blood trickled down my body as I was scored by countless cuts.

I dove aside, firing another shot from Boneless into him. The heavy slugs tore at his side, but failed to do any lasting damage. Not that any damage lasted with these fuckers.

I rushed for the stairs and began racing up them as fast as I could. I had to get the A.A.S.S from him. If I could do that, I could blow him to pieces with the Balefire Egg Launcher. I doubted even he could survive that.

I heard a click from behind me as Tripwires grenade launcher finished pulling itself back together. Well that was bad.

A volley of grenades were sent hurtling towards us as Xayah and I raced up the stairs. The steps behind us were blasted to dust as we ran. I had to do everything I could do not stop running, otherwise the explosions would catch up to me and I would be sent hurtling to my death.

Tripwire began switching tactics and started launching explosives at the steps in front of us. A large chunk of the stairs gave way before us. Xayah bounded over the gap with little difficulty. I on the other hoof was far less nimble. I stumbled, reaching for the far side of the stairs with my fore hooves as I leapt forwards. The good news was that my right hoof managed to get onto the far side, the bad news was that the rest of me did not. I dangled precariously as I held onto the edge of the steps for dear life.

I could hear Tripwire cackling somewhere below me, but the air in the tower had filled with so much dust and debri that I wasn’t able to see him below me anymore. I could only see a thick layer of dusty brown fog.

Xayah reached down and pulled me up onto the stairs, only for another grenade to land behind her. The steps beneath us exploded, ripping a massive hole in the wall. Xayah leapt into the air and grabbed onto the broken wall with one hoof as the surface below her was torn apart. She held me tight with her other hoof as I began trying to pull myself back up onto the broken part of the wall with Xayah.

The bottom of Xayah’s back hooves had been flayed by the explosion. Her once beautiful black stripes now a collection of bleeding gashes and wounds.

“Do we… have a plan…?” Xayah grunted, biting back tears as she tried to stop the bleeding on her hooves.

I looked down at the manic cyber pony below us, then up at the roof. The stairs led to a small platform that overlooked the whole tower. Perfect.

I turned back to Xayah. “Do you think you can get back down to the bottom safely?” I asked her. Xayah glanced down at the floor where the killer cyber pony had taken to taunting us with rather unflattering phrases. She raised her eyebrows and gave me a confused look. “Well, uh… safe ish?” I corrected.

Xayah gave me another confused look, but nodded her head. “I can do my best,” She grunted, slowly stepping back towards the broken stairs.

I gave her an encouraging smile. “Get to the bottom and wait for me to toss it to you,” I said, hopping from the wall back to the stairs. Tripwire gave me a small growl as he saw me continue climbing the steps.

“Toss me what?” Xayah asked, her face still filled with confusion.

But I didn’t have time to explain. Tripwire began launching another wave of grenades in my direction, this time accompanied by some uncomfortably well aimed shots from his laser rifle. I could see Xayah creeping around the stairs in the other direction as she began her descent back to the ground.

I had to keep the cyber ponies attention on me. Harder still, I had to get him to follow me. What would Brisk do?

“Hey metal butt!” I yelled down at him. The steam of explosive fire stopped just long enough for Tripwire to hear what I was trying to say. “What’s black and white and black and white and black and white and green?” I could see Xayah groan in annoyance from here. I faked a laugh. “Three zebra’s fighting over a pickle!”

Tripwire screamed in annoyance and began firing his grenades at me even faster. I heard the sound of flames and smelt the pungent odour of gasoline. Looking down, I saw Tripwire quickly rocketing up towards me, his hooves blazing with fire.

“Seriously! You cyber ponies have jet hooves too! Unfair!” I screamed, rushing up the last couple of steps even faster.

I came to a stop and looked down at the floor of the clocktower below me. Holy fuck that was far down.

Tripwire landed on top of the platform next to me. His metal hoof lashed out, catching my stable barding by the collar and hoisting me into the air. I squirmed as I tried to free myself from his grasp, but he held me to tightly.

Tripwire gave me a jagged grin, his mouth oozing with black sludge. “I’ll be honest, I am glad you came out here. It’s been so long since I had a good fight!”

Brisk darted into the tower like a mad pony. His coat was burned in multiple places and his sunglasses had been lost somewhere outside. “Were about to get company!” He yelled, ducking behind a fallen chunk of stairway.

Tripwire gave me a sinister grin. “Did you really think you could defeat us? Even if you somehow managed to kill me. You would still have two more of us to face,” He leaned his metal head closer to me and bared his jagged metal fangs. “We are pain! We are fear! We are death!” He screamed at me, bits of black ooze flying from his mouth.

I gave him the most smug look I could muster. “Think I could beat you? Not without a plan,” I telekinetically yanked the A.A.S.S from his side and tossed it off the edge of the platform. “Xayah catch!” Below me, I saw my zebra friend rush forwards and catch the oblong device in her hooves.

Tripwire howled, his glass eyes blazing a dark red. “I will skin you all!”

Before he could do anything else, I telekinetically lifted the Balefire Egg Launcher and placed it against his head. Tripwire froze as he was confronted by the massive weapon. My magic tightened on the trigger of the gun.

“You wouldn’t…” Tripwire soothed, his usual snarl reverting to a calmer composure.

I grinned at him. “You should have left my Stable alone,” A flicker of fear passed over Tripwire’s face. “What was it you said? ‘We are pain? We are fear? We are death?’ You’re right. You are going to be experiencing all of that very soon.”

I kicked off from him with my hide legs, throwing myself over the edge of the platform. As I fell, I pulled the trigger.

The world above me exploded in a mix of fire, radiation and baleful green light! The roof and walls of the top half of the tower were blasted apart as the Balefire Egg detonated. Tripwire was annihilated where he stood. He flesh melted away first, his coat burning away and his skin liquifying into a green ooze. Then his metal plates exploded, raining even more shrapnel down on us.

The shockwave of the blast slammed into me, knocking the air out of my lungs and sending me hurtling towards the ground at a nauseating rate.

A plan. I had a plan, just not an end to it. For instance, how the fuck was I supposed to survive falling from this high up! The idea that I might actually die via falling was ironic. That was never a concern in the Stable.

As luck would have it, Brisk had my back. He had climbed up a bunch of stairs and leapt into the air after me, catching me mid fall. He collided with the ground, cushioning my fall. He groaned, rolling me off of him and rubbing his back.

I blushed. “Thanks,” I squeaked, helping him back to his hooves. I glanced over at Xayah who held the A.A.S.S in her hooves. We had done it.

“We need to get going!” Brisk shouted, ushering me toward one of the many holes in the walls. “Any second were going to be in a lot of-”

Crank and Inferno burst into the room. They both had a crazed look in their eyes as they took us all in. Brisk, Xayah and I took a step back as we were confronted by the two metal monsters.

Both of the cyber ponies eyes narrowed as they spotted me. “You!” Crank roared, slamming his hooves on the ground in front of him. The wood cracked and splintered from the force.

Inferno gave a wide grin and began closing in on us, his flamers ready to blast a jet of fire at any second. “And here I thought I wasn’t going to get to burn much today!” He chuckled. He looked me over and licked his lips with his black slug like tongue. “Oh, but I think I’ll take this one slowly! I’m gonna fuck your cunt till you're broken first!”

I raised my Balefire Egg Launcher to face them. They both took a step back as I loaded a glowing Balefire Egg into the weapon.

“Sorry, you won’t be fucking anyponies cunt today,” I grinned. All at once, both cyber ponies began charging me. I jumped into SATS and targeted Cranks head and… holy horse cock! They were still moving! Even in the magically induced stillness I could see the two cyber ponies lunging towards me.

My pipbuck claimed I had zero chance of hitting the cyber alicorns head! What! Really? I shifted my focus down to their hooves. I didn’t need to hit them with this weapon to hit them. I just had to hit near them.

I pulled down hard on the trigger of the Balefire Egg Launcher. The glowing green orb inside sailed out of the gun and into the air. It missed the cyber ponies, landing on the ground about an inch behind them, but that was enough.

The bottom half of the tower exploded. Our vision was obscured by a blinding flash of green and our hides were scorched by balefire. The walls of the tower crumbled inwards, collapsing in on the mangled bodies of the cyber ponies as they desperately scrambled to avoid falling debris. I saw flesh burning and metal bursting. I felt my own flesh sizzle from the scorching heat.

Brisk grabbed me by the collar of my Stable barding and bolted out of the building, Xayah draped over his back. I hadn’t realized how bad of shape Xayah was in. Aside from her flayed hooves, her body was covered in deep gashes and dark bruises.

Brisk hauled us from the building just as the remains of the roof crumbled in, burying the cyber ponies alive under ten feet of rubble. That was assuming they were still alive of course, it was hard to tell when all you could see what burning green flames.

Brisk dragged us as far from the train station as he could before his legs collapsed and he stumbled to the ground. Xayah groaned as she hit the rocky ground. She pushed herself up onto her fore hooves and looked back at the ruined train station.

“Do you think they survived that?” I asked, looking away from the broken tower.

“Survived a balefire bomb and having a building collapsed on them?” Xayah asked. “No, I doubt even they can survive something like that.”

I stood in silence for a long time, simply staring at the ruined train station. It seemed so surreal that it might almost be over. We had reclaimed the A.A.S.S, killed the cyber ponies and were now on our way home. And we had all survived. Banged up, but alive all the same.

I couldn't help grin ear to ear. We had faced annihilation, and we had won!

Footnote: level up.
New perk: Demolition Expert -- +20% damage with explosives.

Author's Notes:

The original Fallout: Equestrian was by Kkat